Book Awards
When one of our members reaches the age of 90, they get to choose a book for WVGS to purchase. The book gets presented to them at a Monthly Membership meeting, then the book goes back to the library to be accessioned into our collection.
Doris Lea (Newton) Egge
At the October 13th General Membership meeting, I was happy to introduce such a member: Doris Lea (Newton) Egge. She was born in 1935 in McIntosh County in rural Eastern Oklahoma during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. At that time, this area of McIntosh County was without electricity. Doris’s family were sharecroppers for a local member of the Creek Indian tribe, and they lived on his farm. The farmhouses were without running water and the family hauled water from a nearby well. Doris lived on the farm until the start of WWII. Then her family moved to a nearby county in Oklahoma so that her father could work in an Army munitions plant.
After the war ended, Doris became familiar with Route 66 as her family moved west in search of work. Her father was always searching for something better for his family and they moved numerous times during her school years. In fact,
Doris attended at least twenty grade/middle schools and seven high schools.
Like many women who attended high school in the 1950s, Doris married young and started a family. Moving continued to be a major theme in her life, as she and her husband and their four children lived in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and California. These moves were the result of her husband’s job transfers. Doris pursued a career as an executive secretary/administrative assistant during which she interacted with people from all walks of life. Her career afforded her the opportunity to travel both domestically and internationally. Additionally, Doris was very active in Eastern Star, Girl Scouts, and the National Secretary’s Association.
Doris retired in 1999 and her husband retired shortly thereafter. Upon their retirement, they moved “back home” to Arizona in 2004 because it always held a special place in their hearts. Doris has remained active and social in her
retirement. She has been an active member of the Northern Arizona Genealogy Society and has made and delivered many quilts for Project Linus.
The book Doris selected is, My Indian Territory School by Mickey J. “Mike” Martin. A photographic
history of a Creek Indian Nation town site and school brought into being during the days when tribal land was first made available to outside settlers.
CDC Book Presentation
By Sheri Erickson, CDC